The moment Emma stepped out of the elevator, she felt it.
Not hostility.
Awareness.
Conversations lowered the second she walked past.
A few assistants looked away too quickly.
Someone near reception nearly walked into a glass partition while staring openly at her.
Emma slowed near the lobby entrance, brows pulling together faintly.
Usually Blackwood Group moved with ruthless precision. Phones rang endlessly. Meetings overlapped. Executives stormed through the building carrying enough stress to power entire cities.
Today?
The atmosphere felt strangely charged.
And somehow she was standing in the center of it.
Two women near the security desk glanced toward her before whispering something quietly between themselves.
Emma looked down at her coffee with sudden self-consciousness.
